What Are We Waiting For?
by I am no angel 0217
Summary: Grace loves Eli, and Eli loves Grace...but they have no clue that the other feels the same way, and their feelings are driving them crazy.
1. Confused - Eli

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. Please read and review. Thanks! BTW - the more reviews that I get, the more chapters will be written.  
  
Author: Janet  
  
  
I never wanted to go inside my house anymore. I always thought that she might be there in the kitchen or the living room or anywhere else I might want to be. She might be with my stepmom or my dad, or her sister or my own. Or she might be with another guy. That thought hurt the most. She could fall in love with anyone, and that was her right. I just had the right to be miserable when she did.  
  
Why did I have to fall in love with her? Why not someone else? Why? I never asked to fall in love with Grace. Why did she have this power over me? Why did I let her slip away so many times before? Why am I sitting here whining about a relationship that would be just as disgusting as it is great?  
  
"Eli!"I heard my stepmother, Lily, yell as she opened the door into my room. Her yell kind of startled me.  
"Hi, Lily,"I said as I put down my guitar.  
"I didn't hear you playing. I'm sorry if I interrupted you."  
"No, I wasn't playing. Just thinking."  
"Oh. Is something wrong?" Lily got her typical look of motherly concern. It didn't matter that I wasn't her own flesh and blood. She considered herself to be one of my mothers, and sometimes I felt closer to her than to my own mom.  
"No, I was just...confused about something."  
"Wanna talk about it?"  
"Not really."  
"Oh, okay. That's cool."  
"What'd you come in here for?"  
"Oh, your father and I were going to take you guys out for pizza. Do you want to go with us, or do you want us to bring you back some?"  
"I'll go."  
  
All through dinner my eyes couldn't keep from staring at her. My eyes wished that it was only the two of us so that they could enjoy her beauty without anyone having to ruin it. I tried to keep up with the conversations that were going on, but I couldn't keep from looking at her. I just wanted to be with her.  
  
The only person who noticed that something was even the slightest bit wrong was my sister, Jessie. She came up to me afterwards, while my father paid, and with a touch of sadness in her voice, she asked me, "E, are you okay?"  
"Yeah,"I replied nonchalantly.  
"No, you're not."  
"I don't want to talk about it right now."  
"Oh, okay. Maybe later?"  
"Yeah, later."  
Maybe later I can admit that I'm in love with Grace. 


	2. Just Tell Her - Jessie

A/N: Thank you for the wonderful feedback. I really appreciate it. This chapter is from Jessie's point of view. I'm excited that OA will be on tonight, although it's sad that there are only 2 more eppys left. Okay, I'm rambling...on with the story!  
  
Chapter Two  
  
As soon as we got home, I went straight to Eli's room in the garage. He looked so confused tonight at dinner. I thought maybe he was sick or something. I also thought that he might be in love, but I couldn't think of anyone for him to be in love with.  
When I got in his room, I saw him lying on his bed with his head buried in a pillow. He looked kind of hopeless. If I had been annoyed with him, it might have been funny. Today, though, it was just pitiful.  
"Eli,"I said softly. He raised his head slightly and looked at me.  
"What, Jessie?"  
"You said you needed to talk."  
"So?"  
"So, talk!"  
"About?"  
"ABout whatever it is that's upsetting you."  
"I..."  
"Yes?"  
"Don't...want...to...talk...about it!"  
"Eli, I'm not leaving this room until you tell me."  
"Fine, pull up a pillow, Jess. It's gonna be a long night!"  
I walked over to a large stack of CDs and magazines on a shelf. I found a book that looked awfully familiar. Then, it dawned on me. This was the book that Mr. Dmitri gave to Grace.  
"What are you doing with this?"I asked him. Now, I felt as confused as he looked.  
He looked at me crisply. "Grace told me to read a poem from it."  
"Oh."  
"Why?"  
"I never knew you were into poetry."  
"I'm not."  
"Then, why let Grace talk you into reading some?"  
"Because I trust her judgment? I don't know!" He was getting really agitated, and I felt the tension in the room building.  
"You're in love with her,"I said in a whisper. I'd just solved the mystery. Eli loved Grace!  
Eli's face twisted as though this was news to him. "I'm what?"  
"You're in love with Grace!"I proclaimed.  
Eli got up. "No, I'm not." He approached me, and for a moment, I thought he might slap me. Instead, he shoved all of the things on the shelf into the floor.  
I decide to try to be as gentle as possible with this. "Eli, it's okay to.."  
"To what? To be in love with her? To want her? To need her? It's not okay! She is my step-sister, in case you didn't notice. I'm not supposed to like her like this!"  
I didn't know what to say. I knew what it was like to love someone even when you aren't supposed to have feelings for them. Still, in today's warped society, Eli's situation was more acceptable than my own.  
"Just tell ehr,"I whispered to him before I walked out the door. 


	3. I've Got A Secret - Zoe

A/N: I want to thank you guys for all the wonderful reviewing that has been going on. I appreciate it.  
  
Chapter Three - Zoe's POV  
  
"Oh, crap!"I muttered under my breath as Jessie came out of Eli's room. I backed away from the door before it hit me in the head.  
Unfortunately for my spying techniques, Jessie saw me standing there. "Zoe, what are you doing?!"  
"Checking the density of the door?"  
"How about the density of your brain?"she scoffed. "How much did you hear?"  
"Oh, enough to know that Eli is in love with my sister,"I whispered. Jessie rolled her eyes and threw her hands up.  
"Great!"she said. "He'll think that I blabbed."  
"Not necessarily."  
"Whatever! I'm gonna go call Katie!"  
"Fine."  
I watched as Jessie went up to her room. She could be such a drama queen sometimes. I listened at Eli's door for a moment longer. Then, I headed up the stairs. At first, I was going to go to my room, but I thought I might be due for a chance at spying on Grace.  
"Whatcha doin'?"I asked, blowing my own cover. So, I suck at being a spy. Grace was sitting on her bed propping a book up with her knees. She wouldn't believe what I was about to tell her.  
"Nothing,"she said as she plopped the book down next to her. She motioned for me to come over to her, so I closed her door and walked over to her. "What's going on with you, Zo?"  
"Well, I just found out that this guy likes this girl a lot. He'd tell her, but he can't risk the chance of his parents killing him."  
"Oh?"Grace's eyes lightened up. I didn't know if it was from gossiping in general or that she liked this subject. "Who is it?"  
"Well, the guy is..."  
"Yeah?"I was getting her so excited that it was funny.  
"Well, you know him really well."  
"Who is it?"  
"Guess!"  
"Eli?"she said quietly.  
"Yeah,"I smiled.  
"Who does he like?"  
"I dunno. Why don't you guess?"  
"Give me a hint."  
"You know her even better."  
Grace's eyes lit up and she hopped off her bed and pushed me out of her bedroom. I knew what that meant, she loves him, too. Maybe I should tell someone. Then again, I wasn't even supposed to know. Oh, well...a secret is always safe with me. 


	4. Whoa! - Grace

A/N: I want to thank you all for your sweet reviews. I really appreciate them. I'm bummed out about tomorrow night being the last episode of OA. I love the show and I think it's stupid that ABC cancelled it!  
  
Chapter Four - Grace  
  
It was late by the time Zoe got around to telling me about Eli. I was so thankful that he did like me back, although my sister was the one who told me about it. Now, I just had to figure out what to say or do to get his attention that the feeling was truly mutual.  
"Grace,"I heard my mom call as she knocked on my door.  
"Come in,"I said as I plopped down on my bed.  
"Hey, hun. I just remembered that I have to take Jessie to therapy tomorrow, and then go to the parent-teacher conferences, so I wanted to know if you needed to be dropped off anywhere on the way."  
"No, Mom,"I said quietly. "I was just going to sleep in and maybe do some reading or writing."  
"Oh, okay,"she said looking very concerned. "Grace, do you feel alright?"  
"Yeah,"I replied. "I'm just a little tired."  
"Okay,"she said as she began to walk away not completely convinced. I knew that she knew I didn't feel like talking. "Oh, Gracie..."  
I winced at her calling me 'Gracie'. "Yes?"  
"Eli will be here tomorrow, so maybe you two can do something."  
I lightened up. "Cool."  
She smiled. "Love you, Grace. Goodnight."  
I smiled back. "I love you, too, Mom."  
She left me in there, and I began to realize that my chance to show Eli how I felt would be occuring tomorrow. That brought a lot of fear and anticipation, but not so much that I couldn't sleep.  
I woke up the next morning at around nine o'clock. I knew that everyone else was gone already, except maybe Eli. I searched my closet for the perfect outfit. I settled on a white tank top, navy crocheted duster, and light bell-bottom jeans. I walked downstairs and heard someone in the kitchen. Eli, I thought and my heart skipped a beat. I continued to walk towards the kitchen. I saw him standing at the refrigerator with the orange juice carton up to his mouth in defiance of the 'rules'. He was just standing there drinking orange juice, wearing his wife-beater tank and old jeans, and looking gorgeous. I had to shake myself to keep from drooling all over the place.  
"Hi,"I mumbled.  
"Huh?"he said as he turned around. "What are you doing here?"  
"Day off,"I replied as I grabbed some cereal. I snagged the orange juice carton from his hand. "Let me get some of that."  
"Okay,"he said as he got a glass for me. "This might help."  
"Thanks,"I said as I took the glass from him. I looked him in the eyes, wondering how to tell him that I was stark-mad in love with him. I couldn't believe how much I craved kissing him and dating him.  
"You look so beautiful,"he told me softly as he placed a hand on my cheek.  
"Thank you,"I exhaled as he kissed me gently on the lips.  
"Grace, I need to tell you something,"he said as he pulled away.  
"Yes?"  
"I think I'm..."  
"Yes?"I said again.  
He smiled. "I think I'm in love with you."  
"Whoa!"I exhaled. I love you, too, just wouldn't come out even though I felt it. I hope he wasn't too disappointed with me. 


	5. This Kiss - Eli

A/N: Thank you for the sweet reviews. I appreciate them. This chapter is very short, so I'm going to go ahead and do the next one at the same time.  
  
Chapter Five - Eli  
  
Whoa? I tell her that I'm in love with her and all that she says back is "Whoa?" I say I love you and she doesn't say it back. That's just my luck. Then, I looked back at her face and she was in a total dazze. She might really love me back, but just couldn't say it.  
  
"Grace, are you still there?"I said quietly, hoping that I wouldn't frighten her.  
  
"Oh, sorry, Eli,"she said as she awoke from the daze.  
  
"It's okay,"I said as I kissed her cheek.  
  
"Eli,"she said as she wrapped her arms around me. "I love you, too."  
  
Then, she lightly brushed her lips against mine before kissing me. The kiss started lightly, but as our passion increased it began very romantic and fiery. We began to move from standing in the kitchen to the two of us laying on the couch, totally consumed with this amazing kiss. Then, we heard the door open, but I tried to ignore it until I heard footsteps.  
  
"What is going on?"a voice screamed and I knew that we were about to be in huge trouuble. I fell off of Grace and the couch from the startling of that voice. It sounded very familiar, very mad, and very dangerous. 


	6. What Is Going On - Grace

Chapter Six - Grace  
  
Oh, our lips felt like absolute heaven as the kiss consumed us. Our passions were shared and they enflamed our souls as the kiss continued. I never wanted it to end. It took too long for it to even begin and I never wanted to give this up.  
  
We lay down on the sofa, and further allowed our passions to explode before I heard the door open. I wanted to just ignore it and pretend that it never happened until I heard a very familiar voice yell: "What is going on?"  
  
The voice started me, but I know it must have frightened Eli because he was on the floor rather soon after it happened. I tried to snicker at him, but I followed his panic-filled gaze to the door, where I saw my father.  
  
"Daddy,"I said with a lot of shock and fear in my voice. I stood up to feel more powerful, though, I felt somewhat afraid of my father at this particular moment in time. "How are you?"  
  
"I was a lot better before I came in here,"he said with a look of anger that seemed to be focused on Eli, who was standing next to me.  
  
"How'd you get in?"I asked trying to distract him.  
  
"Your mom gave me a key,"he replied thoughtlessly at first. Then, he realized what I was doing. "Grace, don't even try to change the subject."  
  
"Okay,"I mumbled.  
  
"Now, what the Hell was going on?"he demanded.  
  
"It's not what it looked like,"I said, trying to save Eli from a premature death.  
  
"So, he didn't have his tongue down your throat?"  
  
I snickered before replying, "No."  
  
"Then, what were you doing, Eli?"he asked, shifting the focus point to Eli for the questions.  
  
Eli smiled nervously and took a deep breath. "I was kissing your daughter, Jake...sir."  
  
"Yeah, I figured that much,"my father said as his anger levels rose higher and higher. "The question should've been..."  
  
There was a slight silence before he finished his interrogation.  
  
"Why did it happen?"he violently yelled.  
  
"Because..."I began until Eli cut me off as he grabbed my hand.  
  
"Because I'm in love with your daughter."  
  
"You're what?!"  
  
"You heard me, I'm in love with your daughter!"  
  
Before my dad could get to Eli to massacre my gorgeous love, I stepped in front of Eli and stated, "And I'm in love with Eli."  
  
"This can't be happening!"my father screamed.  
  
"It is,"I said as I placed a slightly passionate, yet very nervous kiss on Eli's lips. "So deal with it!" 


	7. Get Out Now - Eli

A/N: Thank you for the sweet reviews. I really enjoy reading them.  
  
Chapter Seven - Eli  
  
"What if I don't want to 'deal' with it?" Jake yelled as Grace continued to kiss me until she apparently wanted to talk back to him again.  
  
"Dad! I'm not a little girl anymore, so there is absolutely nothing that you could do to stop this!" Grace yelled back.  
  
"Oh, yes I can!" he said as he grabbed her wrist to pull her away.  
  
"Damnit, Jake, stop it!" I yelled as I ran towards him and pushed him away from Grace. "Don't you want her to be happy?"  
  
"She'll never be happy with you," Jake hissed, which stung my heart. He might be right.   
  
"I don't think you're right, sir," I said as I cleared my throat. "I know that I'm not a wonderful person, but I want to be as good as I can be for Grace. She's my reason for making it this far."  
  
I glanced at Grace and saw that she was almost in tears. I wanted to just kiss her and make her crying stop, but I figured that my kisses might make things worse for her.  
  
"Oh, really?" Jake sneered.  
  
"Daddy, just shut up and let me be in love!" Grace yelled. "You know, you're such an ignorant jerk! You made mom miserable for so long and now, you're going to try to make me miserable."  
  
Grace paused, and her father nearly interrupted her, but he really never got a good opportunity to because she continued as soon as she got her breath and her nerves in order.  
  
"I want you out of my life," she muttered. Apparently, she could tell that Jake didn't hear her all that well, because she decided to yell it a little louder and more emotional. "Did you hear me? I want you to get out of my life! Go! I don't ever want to see your face again! I don't want to hear your voice again! I never want to have to be around you again! So why don't you just leave now?"  
  
Grace was now crying very hard as her pale-faced father slowly walked toward the door. I was really fumbling for words since this was totally unexpected for me. Apparently, Grace hadn't expected it much either, or she didn't think it would hurt this much. All I could think of to do was to walk over to her and wrap my arms around her.  
  
"What did I just do?" Grace sobbed into my shoulder. "I just told my father to get out of my life. How could I do that? I was so stupid!"  
  
"Hush," I whispered as I tried to calm her down. "I'm sure we can make it all work out sooner or later."  
  
"How can you be so sure?" Grace asked softly as she looked up into my eyes.  
  
"We're resourceful," I whispered back as I began to pray that I was right. Otherwise, Grace might hate me forever. 


	8. We Need to Talk - Grace

Chapter Eight - Grace  
  
I couldn't believe that I'd just told my father to get out of my life. I knew that I was still awake when I felt the shaking of my hands and heard Eli continuously asking me if I was cold. I think that my shaking was really scaring him because he appeared to have a very concerned and worried expression that I'd never seen him have before. I calmed down eventually and we sat on the couch motionless as we worried about what might happen now. Around that time, my mom got home. Talk about good timing!  
  
"Hey, you two!" she said cheerfully before noticing the grimaces on our faces. "What's wrong? Did someone die?"  
  
"No," I said as I nudged Eli to keep him quiet. "Nothing's wrong."  
  
My nudges apparently bugged him because he got off the couch and went to his room in the garage. I began to feel bad, but I couldn't express my sadness in front of my mother without her suspecting something. Of course, she did notice Eli leaving the room, so she wasn't going to avoid talking to me completely.  
  
"What's wrong with Eli?" my mom asked as she sat down at the kitchen table.  
  
"Bad day, I guess," I mumbled as I walked into the kitchen.  
  
"Oh. Gracie, are you really okay? You look upset."  
  
"I'm okay, Mom," my voice began to quiver, which in essence told my mom that I was really hiding something.  
  
"Tell me," she said in a more serious manner as I got a soda from the fridge.  
  
"Tell you what?" I asked as I sat down.  
  
"Grace, don't get smart with me!" she said sternly. "Tell me what is wrong."  
  
"Fine," I mumbled as I began to fidget with my thumbs. I took a sip of my Pepsi, and tried to avoid eye contact with my mother. "Dad came over."  
  
"Oh. What else?"  
  
"We had a little argument."  
  
"About?"  
  
I began to stand up. "It doesn't matter."  
  
"It must've mattered a little or you wouldn't have had an argument over it!"  
  
"So?" I said sarcastically.  
  
"What else happened?"  
  
"I told Dad to get out of my life."  
  
"Oh," my mom replied as she took a sip from my Pepsi. "It must've mattered a lot."  
  
I smiled weakly.  
  
"What was it?"  
  
"Mom," I whined. "I don't really want to talk about it!"  
  
"Fine," she said, but I could tell that she was craving more information. I sighed as I accepted that she wasn't going to give up this easily.  
  
"Dad walked in on me and Eli on the couch," I blurted out.  
  
"So?" she said as she began to grow more and more bewildered.  
  
"We were kissing."  
  
"How?" my mom asked as her face grew pale.  
  
"Well, uh...we were kinda...uh...making out."  
  
"What?" she yelled as she dropped the glass of tea she was holding.  
  
I jumped at the loud and startling sound. Of course, I was even more startled when Eli came running into the room. I could tell that he was worried by the noise and there seemed to be something else that was worrying him.  
  
"Are you two okay?" Eli asked in a panicked tone.  
  
"Yes," I said as my mom told him we weren't. I smiled slightly.  
  
"Which is it?" he asked in obvious confusion.  
  
"We're fine," I said as I kissed his cheek, which caused him to look at me oddly.  
  
"It's okay! I know," my mother said as she got out the broom. Eli grabbed it from her, which was quite shocking since Eli hates to clean.  
  
"Lily, I'll clean that up! Why don't you and Grace go up to your room and talk?" 


End file.
